Science: Circular Take-Off

Dr. John Gibson Winans, 52, an air-minded professor of physics at the
University of Wisconsin, was demonstrating last week the first part of
a pet theory: that airplanes should take off and land in circles, as tethered
models do.

A straight runway, the professor reasons, is fine if it is long enough.
But often, even on a very long runway, a faltering engine or iced-up
wings can dump an airplane in crack-up territory beyond the airport
fence. A circular runway, on the other hand, is infinitely long because
an airplane, tethered to its center,...